Google today launched a new application for iOS users called “Cardboard Camera,” which allows you to create 3D, 360-degree photos using your mobile device’s camera. The app was previously available only on Android, following its launch in December 2015, but didn’t yet include a social sharing feature. Using the new version of Cardboard Camera, you can take VR photos by holding your iPhone vertically, tapping record, then turning around as though you’re taking a panorama,Google explains in an announcement about the new app.

Amazon is aggressively expanding its presence in the real-world retail market, with a plan to open dozens of new pop-up stores in US shopping malls over the next year, a source familiar with the matter told Business Insider. The miniature retail storefronts are a separate effort from the physical bookstore that Amazon opened in Seattle last year and are primarily designed to showcase and sell the company's hardware devices, particularly its Echo home speakers.

Condé Nast’s Glamour is joining forces with the YouCam Makeup application to bring top beauty trends seen on the runway at New York Fashion Week to consumers’ smartphones, enabling them to virtually try on the featured products at home. Glamour and Perfect Corp.’s YouCam Makeup app are rolling out the 2016 Selfie Runway Series in a bid to offer beauty fans worldwide the ability to virtually experience the latest cosmetics products and trends at Fashion Week and try the high-fashion looks on themselves. Glamour has curated the suite of looks that will be available via YouCam Makeup’s augmented reality platform, …

Chinese-owned Volvo Car Group and auto safety group Autoliv said on Tuesday they would form a joint venture to develop autonomous driving software as automotive firms across the industry race to embrace the emerging technology. The two Sweden-based companies said in separate statements the new company would have an initial work force of about 200 staff taken from both parent companies, a number that would increase to more than 600 over the medium term. The joint venture, which is to be headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, and had yet to be named, will develop advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous …

In what’s sure to be a college student’s dream come true, drones will soon be delivering burritos on the campus of Virginia Tech. The experimental service, to begin this month and last just a few weeks, is a test by Project Wing, a unit of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and the Blacksburg, Virginia, university have agreed to participate. The Federal Aviation Administration approved the venture, the most extensive test yet in the U.S. of what many companies -- including Amazon.com Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- hope will eventually become routine drone deliveries of products. Amazon …

The speaker that speaks might soon speak without you speaking to ask it to speak. Amazon’s Echo is set to get push notifications, according to The Information, which would allow it to give you a heads up about activity from its connected services, so it could, for example, tell you when your connected doorbell rings or pipe up and tell you when a loved one’s flight has landed. Currently, Echo only speaks when spoken to; a user has to use the activation word “Alexa” to prompt it to begin listening for a command or request, and then it’ll respond to said …

Michigan already has a hand in self-driving technology, but a motion from the senate may take the Great Lake State one-step further. The state senate unanimously voted to let firms and researches test self-driving cars on Michigan roads without a person at the wheel. The new bill explains humans would 'promptly' take control of the vehicle's movements remotely or the vehicle must be designed to stop or slow on its own.

Not content with helping cure cancers and winning Jeopardy, Watson wants to get inside our heads and our homes, whispering instructions into our wireless headsets and helping us do our laundry. That's the message from IBM's global head of Watson IoT, Harriet Green, in a keynote speech here at IFA in Berlin. IBM will work with appliance maker Whirlpool, TV and camera company Panasonic, wireless headphone designer Bragi and Withings owner Nokia to add Watson's cognitive computing capabilities to their products, the company said.

Smart vehicles could be about to get a lot more aware thanks to a new breakthrough by Google. The search giant, which has been heavily involved in developing intelligent autos, has filed a patent that will allow its smart cars to get out of the way of police and other emergency vehicles. Google says that this will help cut down on delays for emergency first-responders, and reduce the possible risk of crashes involving its cars.

Hydration has a new hero. Not this guy. The Thermos Brand has introduced its Connected Hydration Bottle with Smart Lid in Canada (it’s been in the U.S. for a while, now), which is designed to help thirsty folks monitor water intake using a Thermos Smart Lid app. It also connects to Fitbit so users can track water intake and meet hydration goals during activity. The free app is available in English and French on the Apple App Store and lets users set personalized daily water intake goals based on age, gender, height, weight and activity level. A sensor tube on the lid …